Woods Earth Water
by swingingfreely
Summary: Emma tells Snow about her memories of summercamp and her first kiss.


**My other story will be updated eventually; I just have finals coming up and I've been super stressed with studying! This was inspired from my recent trip to Oregon. I went hiking at this place called Eagle Creek, which is probably the most beautiful place I've ever seen. So enjoy. BTW I hope to get more song-fic type stories up soon. Rewiew?**

Camp is one of my most treasured moments. Picture this: woods, earth, water- my instant flashback to the carefree days of summer camp. My foster parents got tired of me, so they sent me away to summer camp.

The camp was called Nosdos Summer Camp. It was supposed to be this cheap place that was full of boring counselors and nothing to do, but once I got there, I knew that wasn't the case.

The first thing we did was getting separated into groups of four. I was put in a cabin with three other 14 year old girls; Willow, Olive, and Carter. I remember so much about them, even to the little details like the contours on their faces.

We were instantly best friends. They all got homesick the first night and wondered why I wasn't. I answered simply, that I was an orphan and my foster parents were horrid. This somehow cheered them up; I assume that this was their effort to make me feel loved. We talked through the night. I remember at one point walking outside to look at the stars. We found various constellations and one that looked like a swan. I found this humorous because it was my last name. We decided that this would be our constellation, the swan stars, and even if we weren't together, whenever we looked at it, we would always be close at heart.

I still remember the smell of the sun heating the old wood that made up our cabin. I woke up first and next Carter, Willow, and Olive. This was our routine every morning; I'd wake up first and so on.

The first day we spent making friendship bracelets. In fact- I think I still have mine. _Emma rummages through some drawers in her dresser and pulls out some colourful bracelets. She proudly hands them to her mother and watches as Snow marvels over them._

The next few days we ran through the woods playing hide and seek and pretending to be princesses. _Snow beams._ We would jump from one activity to the next. One of our favorites was canoeing in the lake. The lake, if you looked into its deep waters, was a beautiful blue, almost a replica of something you'd see in the Enchanted Forest.

About a month into camp, we came across this cascading waterfall. It was magnificently beautiful, with moss greening the land surrounding it. We went to the top, and all I could see was trees and fog, for miles on end. I felt at peace- it was enough to never have a worry in my life again. Willow dared me to jump, and I looked at her like she was insane. But I gave myself a little emotional pep talk and was ready for the inevitable. My thoughts were this: "The secret isn't fearlessness, but admitting what scares you. Then use that knowledge to push yourself further and further than you ever thought possible. Go on. Take a leap." Suddenly, I felt my legs bend down and then snap up. I was flying downward and I felt water engulf my body. I realized that I had jumped. They all let out a deep breath when I finally submerged laughing. They jumped in after me as well. Pretty much every day for the rest of the summer we went swimming there. A couple times we even went skinny dipping!

About a month into camp, this boy my age, Hollis, kept flirting with me. Olive would tease me about it and Carter kept telling me to go for it. Willow said that once she saw him wink at me. _Her mother snickers._ So he finally came up to me and asked me if I wanted to go canoeing with him. I said yes, of course, because one, he was gorgeous, two, he seemed sweet, and three, he was gorgeous!

The next day, I met him at the docks. It was early, maybe 6:30, so the counselors wouldn't catch us. They didn't allow dating amongst campers. I remember how the fog greeted the sidewalk. He smiled and I swear that my heart just melted. After canoeing for a while, we talked about our lives. It turns out that he was in the foster system too. His foster parents were tolerable, he said, but he'd rather have a real family. At least he knew who his birth parents were, even if they were druggies.

I showed him me, Carter, Willow, and Olive's favorite secret spot. We just smiled and hung out for a while, until he smiled and pushed me into the bone chilling water. Did I mention how cold Oregon is? _Snow shakes her head._ Well, it's cold. He jumped in after me and we splashed each other.

After a couple of minutes we were both shivering, so we got out. He wrapped a towel around me, but left his arms there. He looked me in the eyes and kissed me. I lasted a little while, and yes it was the most amazing kiss I've ever had, even now. Skinny-dipping in the lake was innocent fun- getting to fist base was a big deal.

For the rest of the summer, we were an item, inseparable. He was my first boyfriend, and I will never forget him. We exchanged phone numbers, well he gave me his, but I knew I'd be getting a new foster family, so there was no point. I promised to call, but I never did. I knew that it would never work out. Our relationship[, if you could even call it that, was great while it lasted, but I knew it was going to be a summer fling, and just that.

I wish I could go back there, to those woods in Oregon, and run through them just like old times. I'd give anything to smell the fresh air, to loose myself in that whole other world. Olive, Willow, and Carter would be standing there with open arms. We would go swimming in the lake. I can still hear our laughter echoing through the trees. Woods, earth, water…

**Review?**


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